两个素食主义者的爱好者，一个AI“邪教”和一群尸体

，，，，纽约阅读推荐新闻通讯。在这里注册每晚得到它。米洛·杨布鲁特（Milo Youngblut）一直在家上学，直到六年级。他们的父母是虔诚的基督徒，他们在每顿饭前都说恩典，并小心地在西雅图家的厨房里上课时，将代数课程与创造论进行平衡。

湖边学校似乎是成为一个聪明但被庇护的孩子的理想场所。小巧而有选择性的地方，几年来，只有两位数的老年人参加了麻省理工学院的两位数。（比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）派他的孩子们到湖畔，杰夫·贝佐斯（Jeff Bezos）也是如此。他们加入了合唱团，编码俱乐部，测验鲍尔团队；他们很容易与一群志同道合的数学书呆子滑入。到九年级时幻影电话。突然，Youngblut是一个乐观的粉红色头发少年，拥有完整的社交生活。让我们去摇摆跳舞，然后看MCU，他们在最好的朋友的年鉴中写了。

大多数孩子在湖畔彼此友好。学校只有不到1,000名学生。尽管如此，Youngblut对Maximilian Snyder并没有太了解，这是一个高度两个成绩的紧张而安静的男孩。他们为他昵称为“手提箱孩子”，因为他有目的地在校园里大步走过，手里拿着滚筒。斯奈德（Snyder）与他的母亲和继父住在西雅图高档郊区柯克兰（Kirkland）。他的父亲是一位有天赋的编码员，是微软的早期雇员，他在Snyder 16岁时自杀。同学似乎觉得他太多了，有争议。一个同学告诉我，他经常穿着智慧，比保证更多的傲慢和屈尊 - 在许多方面，他让我想起了一个小男孩。他为基于湖边合唱团的声乐作品Kingkiller编年史，幻想系列，并发表了一本关于年轻巫师的简短小说的章节。``曾经有一个男孩想知道，这开始了。一切，也许。任何东西

他们的同学都不会预测，斯奈德毕业后仅五年，他和Youngblut就会订婚。他们在该国的相对方面的距离甚至更少，而将他们俩都送入监狱的任务的两个方面。1月下旬，在加利福尼亚州瓦列霍（Vallejo）的一个破旧的社区中，戴着无檐小便帽和面具，据称走到一个名叫柯蒂斯·林德（Curtis Lind）的82岁的拖车车主，将手臂放在肩膀上，用刀将他刺在胸前。然后，根据检察官的说法，他割了喉咙。几天后，Youngblut穿着防弹衣的Youngblut被边境巡逻队的特工在佛蒙特州拉过。根据检察官的说法，他们走出去，举起枪，开枪，杀死了一个名叫大卫·马兰（David Maland）的年轻特工。

当局花了一些时间才意识到斯奈德和杨布鲁特在一个小组的影响下行事。Zizian是一个基于湾区的邪教组织，对未来有着非常具体的愿景。他们坚信，有一天，AI将超越人类的智慧并占领世界。他们认为，如果那些从事人工智能工作的人是肉食者，那么超级智能的人工智能将肉类行业用作社会工作方式的蓝图：奴役和折磨人类在遍布银河系中的工厂农场中的永恒性。为了防止这种情况，他们必须努力使所有人，尤其是那些从事AI，素食主义者的人。Snyder和Youngblut是相对较新的convert依。在过去的几年中，他们陷入了灌输，没有亲自见到小组成员之一，完全通过利基博客文章和聊天室吸收了他们的信息。慢慢地但可以肯定的是，他们切断了与所有家人和朋友的联系。除了问一个问题：h嘿，你是素食主义者吗？

大四后结束时，Youngblut收到了Snyder的Instagram消息，后者在牛津大学学习哲学和计算机科学。他告诉他们，几年前，在合唱团中，他听到Youngblut与他们的朋友谈论了一个庞大的粉丝小说史诗称为哈利·波特和理性方法。他说，这本书为他引发了一个知识之旅，并将他带到了更广泛的理性主义者社区，这是一个蓬勃发展的书呆子，技术上的年轻人，通过更清晰的思考实现了自我改善。斯奈德（Snyder）和杨布鲁特（Youngblut）开始定期谈论不和谐，每天来回发送数百条信息，涉及哲学和人工智能风险和性幻想，以及关于餐和作业的平凡更新。后来，Youngblut告诉他们最好的朋友Ash，涌向Snyder。他们写道，基本上，我现在有一个有好处的朋友。但这更加复杂。

Youngblut似乎既兴奋又紧张。尽管两人还没有亲自见面，但他们与斯奈德有着深厚的联系，并且这种关系很快就撰写了“动态动态色彩”。我们谈论他们重塑我的大脑，'他们在2022年8月写了Ash。Youngblut在身体和精神上都有BDSM元素。斯奈德（Snyder）告诉杨布鲁特（Youngblut）将他称为他们的主人和主人，并在谈话中称他为先生。他们写道，我的主人就像性交，不是精神病。斯奈德（Snyder）在暑假前访问西雅图。他们写信给Ash。绝对是虐待狂，至少有点还可以，因为显然我是一个受虐狂，而且我不知道。就像，他昨天曾多次打我，我当时想，哎呀。我现在害怕你。但这真的很好。不用担心，我们已经讨论过。

他很聪明，他们沉迷于恐怖，以至于Youngblut对自己的智慧感到震惊。他们特别喜欢学习理性主义，这几乎整个过程都成功地将我从基督教中解散了。”他们告诉阿什。阿什注意到他们的朋友在改变。他们写信给她。YoungBlut说：“是的，我捡起了一些东西。”他们和斯奈德开了个玩笑 - 我永远不应该说我不会为他们做些事情，因为到目前为止，我最终做了这件事，以后再好。

Ash告诉Youngblut，听起来有点像Snyder比男朋友更具治疗师。Youngblut回答说，Snyder实际上是一个天才，智力差距。只是他能使我聪明，而且我更容易被操纵。只是一个Google Doc，对我和我的价值观和重要事项。

当斯奈德（Snyder）首先向Youngblut发出消息时，他已经深入理性主义了多年。这主要需要阅读许多名叫Eliezer Yudkowsky的人的书籍，博客和不和谐帖子。Yudkowsky是一位痴迷于科幻小说的自动动物，他成立了一个非营利组织，该组织于2000年被称为机器智能研究所，旨在解决他所说的“对齐问题”：我们如何使未来的人为超级智能的利益与人类的那些人的利益保持一致，这样就可以决定杀死我们所有的人？彼得·蒂尔（Peter Thiel）是早期的捐助者。

Yudkowsky不只是对建立更安全的机器人头脑感兴趣。他也希望人类也提高自己的改善。2009年，他从他在伯克利的家中推出了Lesswrong，该博客被描述为致力于完善人类理性的艺术并建立理性主义社区的艺术。尤德科夫斯基（Yudkowsky）有一份礼物，可以使超核心概念访问。这是一个让社会上尴尬的理性主义者仰望的人：一个摇摇欲坠的，盛大的fedora clad tullageek，他的恐吓智力只能与他的自我相匹配。他在Okcupid的个人资料中写道：“我一直很认真，并没有以被指控占领世界的开玩笑的方式。

围绕Yudkowsky组成的社区 - 硅谷精英与斯坦福大学和Google的混合在一起。他们是书呆子，他分享了他的情报恋物癖和局外人的身份，以及他对科幻，幻想，动漫，粉丝小说，视频游戏和桌面RPG的兴趣。我们倾向于吸引在世界其他地区不受欢迎的人。”博客文章。``这包括许多自闭症患者，跨性别者，来自宗教团体的无神论者等。另一个理性主义者将社区描述为自闭症患者和患有多动症的人的心理健康支持小组。斯奈德（Snyder）在15岁时首次在莱斯沃朗（Lesswrong）张贴了尤德科夫斯基（Yudkowsky），这可能是一个特别酷的教授。他对年长的理论家对人工智能风险，智力优势的姿态，甚至对BDSM的兴趣采用了信念。尤德科夫斯基对死亡率的立场，他似乎特别强迫。Yudkowsky在2004年弟弟的悲惨死亡之后写道：“死亡是一场巨大的邪恶，我将在尽可能地反对。斯奈德（Snyder）直到最近失去了父亲，他分享了这一希望。他提到接受死亡必然性的人是死人。

2010年，Yudkowsky开始出版哈利·波特和理性方法，这本书Snyder注意到Youngblut在Lakeside上阅读。hpmor，众所周知，将哈利重新构想成一个理性主义者，他加入了拉文克劳而不是格兰芬多。在成千上万的页面中，理性主义者哈利使用逻辑和决策理论来拯救世界并击败伏地魔。斯奈德（Snyder）和其他像他这样的年轻读者，作为现实生活中的霍格沃茨（Hogwarts）的信经历了这本书，这是一份邀请加入一个试图拯救世界的知识分子社区的邀请。许多人涌向湾区，加入理性主义者现场，并在Yudkowsky的Miri或其当时的姐姐组织，应用理性中心（于2012年开放）。Miri专注于技术AI安全研究，CFAR旨在在策略中进行策略，以帮助有助于理性主义者提高认知。所有这些都可能触发强烈的情绪。在博客文章，一个理性主义者和CFAR联合创始人迈克尔·瓦伦丁·史密斯（Michael Valentine Smith）描述了他在运动中的时光：当我在这个AI启示录中的故事中时，一切都感觉如此 -史诗。甚至关于CFAR在研讨会上处理垃圾的问题似乎与人类是否将在未来几十年生存直接相关。

具有讽刺意味的是，考虑到他们对无神论和系统推理的重视，许多理性主义者最终相信诸如魔法思想之类的事情。许多人确信思想实验 - 像Roko的Basilisk一样，这是一个假设的未来AI，惩罚了任何没有帮助其存在的人的人，可能是formazards的，这是一个用于恐怖和强大的想法的术语，他们能够造成现实生活中的危险。（在一篇名为“职业范德阿兹德的博客文章”中，一个理性主义者描述被精神病驱动通过邪恶的AIS折磨人类的情况。）一些理性主义者陷入了诸如Tulpamance之类的神秘习俗，这是一种表面上是从佛教衍生而来的，并由我的小马迷在4Chan上宣传，其中涉及使用冥想练习来显然创造出独立的独立实体，这些实体生活在一个人的大脑中。首先与哈利·波特建立联系的人社区可能更有可能对待诸如咒语之类的想法。无论哪种方式，都很难将这一刻与2010年代覆盖海湾地区的潜力烟雾区分开。虚幻的事情似乎是可能的。资金淹没了AI研究实验室。像Openai这样的公司取得了惊人的技术进步。硅谷精英在经济上和文化上支持理性主义的思想（埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）和格莱姆斯（Grimes）与罗科（Roko）的basilisk绑定；丢脸的阿拉米达（Alameda）研究honcho caroline caroline ellison命名了她的tumblr，这是一条来自hpmor）。在热情中，该国一些最敏锐，最印象最大的思想最终在急性非理性的灌木丛中迷失了。

2023年，斯奈德（Snyder）从牛津（Oxford）休假，搬进了他家人在柯克兰（Kirkland）租用的一间小公寓，柯克兰（Kirkland）是西雅图郊外的中上层中部郊区。Youngblut在附近，在华盛顿大学学习计算机科学。两人越来越近，夜间看动漫和吃素食食物。他们在2023年7月写信给他。两人经常看到灰烬 - 他们在上大学前一年占据了一段差距。很快，三个开始在一起睡觉。

除了与Youngblut和Ash共度时光之外，Snyder没有很多社交生活。我一生中大部分时间都选择有0个朋友，而不是我能告诉我的朋友不会和我在同一页面上。”他在X上写道。``你们是什么，而不是一直确定计划，这是与父母的某种生活，我太自由了，无法理解。”他写了他们。麦克斯有两个你想见的人。”扬布鲁特回答。他们还有其他承诺：他们的父母，紧密联系的高中朋友。麦克斯回答。他写道，大多数人都对大多数人可能在根本上行事的想法非常抵制。”

对于Snyder来说，陪伴位于统治他一生的严格道德原则的下游。即使在不和谐的理性主义者中，在智力优势方面也没有懒散的态度，他的态度也以错误的方式摩擦。他经常用蓝色熟人来询问他们是否是素食主义者。如果他们说不，他会与他们争论他们为什么应该这样做。有一次，他正在审讯的一个熟人问他是否真的只与分享饮食的人保持朋友。他回信写回信。我最好的朋友是素食主义者，是我真正想到的朋友。

他每天在不和谐的聊天和论坛上度过几个小时，理性主义话语流淌，筛选理论上的grant块。（Snyder to Ash：您知道强化层的概念与预期的实用性最大化器吗？我想不是。后者仅由享乐主义的自我利益驱动。同时，好人愿意为人类而牺牲一切。他喜欢说，善良是一种不变的神经疾病。尤德科夫斯基（Yudkowsky）的哈利·波特（Harry Potter）版本也不会变成邪恶，即使他假装为伏地魔一千年。与此同时，邪恶的人通常假装对社会优势有益。在伪造者中确定真正的好人，因为他们是唯一能够真正拯救世界脱离邪恶AI的人。

这种哲学中的一些源于尤德科斯基（Yudkowsky）等主流理性主义者，但越来越多的并没有。2023年6月，Youngblut向Ash认罪，Snyder从禁忌的知识来源中获取信息。他们对那个人是谁。他们告诉Ash，Max一直在阅读很多信息，他一直在将其中的一些，不是全部融入他的信仰体系中，他一直在告诉我其中的某些内容，其中很多事情需要更多的决策理论来真正理解我的确理解的是，我很聪明地了解了Snyder的派遣。邪恶，他们告诉阿什。他们写道，我还不了解这一点。

Ash感到好奇心。他们的朋友和恋人认为他们是邪恶的吗？他们要求Snyder解释他到底是善与恶的意思。他说：这些概念在脑海中非常深刻，他说。他写道：“邪恶就像您追溯了他们决定X的原因，也是出于此原因的原因，以及出于这个原因的原因，依此类推，直到没有什么更深入的原因，这是最深层的原因，这是从根本上是自私或以恶意的方式进行的。”此外：这么多人在如此基本的层面上处于恶意状态的现实是令人恐惧的。达沃，泥泞的水和第二次机会。他认为，世界比大多数人想象的要多。

Youngblut chimed in：Max ***在与他接触的每个人都取消。当时，Ash不确定星号的含义。他们回头说：肯定是ziz。Ziz Lasota于2016年从阿拉斯加到达海湾地区。这位25岁的跨性别女性迅​​速成为理性主义舞台的好奇心 - 她穿着黑色的长袍，并发表了长期的博客文章，介绍了她对大脑半球的发展的理论，她认为这是有能力是善良或邪恶的独特实体。

Ziz觉得只有两个有两个良好半球的人，而不是与一个邪恶半球的单一商品，或者上帝禁止，nongoods of twine evil nogeods'与双胞胎邪恶的半球 - 允许对关键的AI风险研究一起工作。她要求CFAR创始人萨拉蒙（Salamon）帮助她在Yudkowsky的Miri中获得职位，她希望在那里评估求职者的半球形善良。她强调，该计划非常重要。萨拉蒙告诉我，我不认为这是我想协助的事情。Ziz以肠道的水平吓到了她。她感到害怕。我能记得在我一生中的其他时刻有一种感觉。

半球理论不是Ziz在2010年代在她的博客上写的唯一一件事。她还宣讲了激进的素食主义者，认为肉食者或肉食家是吃肉的怪物。最重要的是，她认为素食主义者应该负责人工智能发展。具体来说，她认为应该负责。如果她确实发现自己处于那个位置，她在博客上写道，惩罚将迅速落下非素食主义者和食肉动物，她认为她像盖伊·费里（Guy Fieri）一样犯有谋杀的carnism罪。

她的写作 - 经常从书呆子的主食中汲取星球大战哈利·波特（Harry Potter）可能是暴力的，这是一种充满成人对血腥复仇的渴望的年轻幻想的融合。她引用了尤德科夫斯基（Yudkowsky）的粉丝小说中的一行，当时邪恶的教授奎雷尔（Quirrell）鼓励哈利·波特（Harry Potter）纯粹考虑杀人。掌握了这一点。这启发了杀死安娜·萨拉蒙（Anna Salamon）的暴力形象，她觉得他拒绝了她。她写道，我会尽力压碎或撕裂他们的风管，涉及萨拉蒙。•用右手，我用伸出的手指刺伤了他们的眼睛。我不知道通过眼sock脚到大脑有多少通道，而是尝试尽快摧毁他们的前额叶叶。在不和谐方面，Ziz和她的追随者会分享关于他们所谓的吸血鬼的复仇幻想，他们认为他们认为人类的肉类肉类政权的名字是将人类谴责为AI地狱。

2019年，她和三个朋友格温·丹尼尔森（Gwen Danielson），亚历山大（Alexander）somni -leatham和艾玛·伯哈尼（Emma Borhanian）在在森林露营地举行的CFAR活动中举行了抗议活动。他们戴着黑色的长袍和盖伊·福克斯（Guy Fawkes）的口罩，用盒子卡车挡住了道路，无意中将一群无关的儿童捕获在露营区内，并试图发表演讲，指控腐败组织。他们没有在警察面前走得很远，因为儿童的存在和虚假报道，抗议者枪手了。所有四人都被捕，并被指控犯有重罪串谋犯罪和轻罪，例如妨碍司法正义。之后，Ziz和她的团队变得孤立。Zizian被禁止参加CFAR研讨会，很少出现在理性主义社交活动中。Ziz和几个门徒 - Leatham，Borhanian和另一个经过Suri Dao的年轻人搬进了Box Trucks，停在Vallejo西侧的一个破烂的社区中。其他人则绕过他们，包括杰米·扎乔（Jamie Zajko），他是一名29岁的坦普尔大学（Temple University）的生物信息学硕士学位的杰米·扎乔（Jamie Zajko），丹尼尔·布兰克（Daniel Blank）是自闭症23岁的丹尼尔·布兰克（Daniel Blank），获得了加州大学伯克利分校的学位，曾获得生物工程和计算机科学。

尽管他们从社区退出了社区，但Zizians“当其他人开始称呼他们时，他们一直在理性主义的不和谐中出现，以争论素食主义和人工智学风险，即使他们被指控犯有重罪侵入和障碍露营事件的正义。但是随后，在2022年11月，他们的房东是一个善良的80岁的柯蒂斯·林德（Curtis Lind），试图从停放卡车的土地上驱逐他们。该集团没有支付两年多的租金。他担心自己的租户在要求他们租金，威胁他并向他投掷岩石时越来越暴力。Lind开始在该物业上携带手枪。驱逐对话并不顺利。几天后，莱瑟姆（Leatham根据到索拉诺县检察官。林德抓住他的枪，开枪，杀死了鲍哈尼亚人，伤害了莱瑟姆。后来，林德的朋友在Zizian的财产中发现了一瓶碱液。他们怀疑该小组计划切碎并解散房东的尸体。莱瑟姆（Leatham）和道（Dao）在现场被捕，后来被指控谋杀，但齐兹（Ziz）被释放。

2023年7月，Youngblut对Ash进行了重大更新。经过几个月的斯奈德压力，他们成为素食主义者。你应该加入我！Youngblut写信给他们的朋友，工厂的耕种非常恐怖。这是如此邪恶。然后，他们发送了一个链接统治，由Joaquin Phoenix，Rooney Mara，Sia和Kat Von D叙述的澳大利亚纪录片，该纪录片使用无人机和隐藏的相机调查肉类行业。

成为素食主义者只是开始。我仍在努力变得更强大，并学习更多。他们告诉Ash非常重要。我想与您谈论重要的事情 - 素食主义者和我的人生目标和事物。他们开始以奇怪的新方式描述自己的思想： - 至少我的许多执行功能障碍，至少是源于矛盾的愿望，他们写道。强迫促进内部暴力的事情并不总是一个好主意。在零碎的地方，Youngblut让灰烬滑到灰烬中，这对所有这些自我完善就有更大的意义。他们正在计划与斯奈德的事情。该计划至少必须从Ash中秘密，因为他们仍在评估Ash是否真的很好。只有当Ash证明自己是真正的好处时，才会向他们展示任务的细节。YoungBlut说，那天夏天说，我们仍然不太确定您以及您的一致性。出于OPSEC的原因，有些事情我们不会告诉您。

在那个夏天的整个过程中，Ash偶尔去Snyder的公寓共进晚餐，经常与这对夫妇进行性关系。即使斯奈德（Snyder）在那儿住了几个月，公寓感到幽闭恐怖，乱扔箱子。七月的一个晚上，斯奈德（Snyder）和杨布鲁特（Snyder）弯腰弯腰，准备素食鱼手指和薯条。从沙发上看着Ash被他们变得近距离击中。这对夫妇似乎讲了自己的方言，带有Twee Internet的理性主义者术语的兰格说：“ Epy”代替Sleepy;提到素食主义者 - 麦克nâcheems和dino鸡肉nugg。他说，即使面对暴力，好人也必须不受限制。实际上，他和Youngblut曾经提到过计划互相浇水以增加疼痛的计划。（这来自尤德科夫斯基（Yudkowsky），他主张在面对勒索和酷刑之类的威胁时建立一个韧性。）他继续说，好的并不是一个抽象。像Ziz一样，Snyder希望与其他好人一起识别和合作，以建立道德上一致的素食AI超级智能。

阿什（Ash）试图跟上斯奈德（Snyder）解释了包括所有非肉体动物在内的好人最终将被上传到模拟的类别。当他们吃饭时，他描述了一种数字诺亚斯（Noah sark），其中动物和好人可以在永恒的幸福中嬉戏。There, “I would be friends with lots of good people,” he said, like cows, “who are really sweet.” They would all “be friends and have a good life and live forever because death is evil, and do interesting things.” Youngblut seemed to have fully bought into this vision.When Ash asked Youngblut about their hopes for the future, they responded: “Might be nice to have some kids with Max.” Not in the real world, though: Youngblut hoped to raise children in the simulation.

After the attack on Lind, the Zizians who’d stayed out of jail didn’t retreat.On January 2, 2023, the parents of Jamie Zajko were found shot to death in their suburban Pennsylvania home.Two weeks later, Ziz, Zajko, and Blank were arrested in a Pennsylvania hotel in connection with the killings.But none was charged for the murders.Blank and Zajko were released, while Ziz remained in jail on charges of obstructing justice relating to her arrest.The group disappeared even from Discord.Some members went to a remote house in Coventry, Vermont, while others lived in a rented house in the woods in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.Even then, new members were joining;Ophelia Bauckholt, a 26-year-old German working at a New York quantitative trading company, cut off her friends and moved to the house in Chapel Hill that November.

Only members of the rationalist community seemed to realize the Lind assault and the Zajko murders were related, and they were extremely nervous.An anonymous blog post warning about “risks of physical violence from Ziz” made the rounds among the rationalists;and in rationalist fashion, they debated in the comments section about which decision-theory strategy seemed to be guiding Ziz’s choice of targets.Anonymous rationalists hired a PI to sit in on Ziz’s ongoing court appearances.On Discord and in person, rationalists whispered about the supposed danger of reading Ziz’s writings — words so potentially radicalizing and dangerous they constituted a severe infohazard.Snyder was not deterred.If anything, the violence seemed to bring him closer to the cause.After all, he wrote to Youngblut and Ash, “[m]ost things aren’t immoral if done to bad people.”

In late June 2023, he posted in a group chat called the Ziz Circle on an encrypted messaging platform.Snyder had been trying to recruit online acquaintances to help the Zizians, and a handful wanted to hear him out.“I wanna get ziz out of prison,” Snyder wrote.“Her friends can pay bail but she needs an address + proof that she can stay at said address.” He regretted that he “did not know them before they were in jail,” since they were the “correct level of ambitious,” aligned with his own world-saving mission.Someone asked if it were true that the Zizians had attacked someone with a sword.“I dunno if zizians have murdered someone with a katana,” Snyder responded, “and very possibly wouldn’t tell you if they did.I think murdering people with katanas is in many cases correct or if incorrect only incorrect strategically.”

Youngblut seemed to think so too.By that fall, the dynamics of the trio had shifted.As Youngblut fell deeper into Snyder’s world, Ash was speaking to them less and less.The group sex was no longer.Youngblut was mostly living with Snyder at his condo, barely going to class, and growing increasingly moralistic.When they found out Ash had taken a break from veganism, they grew angry and insisted they meet up to watch统治。Ash relented, watched the film, and recommitted to veganism.Soon after, they went out for dinner with Ash to a vegetarian restaurant.They talked, as usual, about good and evil.Youngblut told Ash that if they could press a button that would kill all evil people, they would press it.Shocked, Ash asked if Youngblut thought they were evil.“On balance of probability, you are,” Youngblut answered.“It would be better if you killed yourself.”

That spring, Youngblut secretly moved their things out of their parents’ house.Their parents panicked and began frantically contacting Youngblut’s friends and their parents, looking for information on their missing child, who they feared had joined a vegan cult.Learning that Youngblut had cut off old friends, they filed a missing person report and reached out to the counseling center at the University of Washington.In emails, they said the counseling center had informed them Youngblut was likely “part of a cult, or a dominant, abusive relationship.”

Youngblut joked with Ash on Discord about their parents’ concerns.“Time to do vegan cult activities like putting away the leftovers lol,” they wrote.“The VEGAN leftovers.” They were excited, undeterred: They were going to buy a box truck with Snyder, they told Ash, convert it to be livable, and then drive around the country.“Boxy trucky stuff is coming along,” they wrote in June.“We have until the end of the month to move out.” In the meantime, they kept checking in on Ash’s veganism.“Is ur partner vegan?i know you’ve been talking to ur friends about being vegan,” they wrote.“We’re happy that you have a vegan partner.That is very awesome.” They asked Ash if they would like to come over for vegan food.

Ash said they were unsure, given how disappointed in them Youngblut had seemed the last time they hung out.“You’ve been vegan since december!” Youngblut wrote back.“i was pretty upset in december, my trust for u went way down.it is back up more now that u have been vegan for a while and talked to ur friends about being vegan and whatnot.” Ash said they still weren’t sure;they confessed to feeling uneasy around the couple.“Do u feel more unsafe around me than max?” Youngblut asked.They continued: “I felt pretty unsure and a little unsafe around max for a while as i was learning about what he believed and seeing whether i believed it too and was looking at the world and finding out that it looked much different from how i thought it did.” They added: “since i keep reaching out to you and wanting to talk to you, you can infer that i think there’s a decent chance that ur good and if i stop reaching out to you, then ive decided otherwise.”

Youngblut tried to see Ash once more a few months later, but Ash demurred.“Just let me know,” Youngblut responded.Four hours later:

“Are you still vegan?”

“Yep,” Ash wrote.Youngblut: “Yay”

It was the last time Ash spoke with them.

In November, Youngblut left Snyder and drove the box truck they’d fixed up to Chapel Hill to live with Ziz, Zajko, Blank, and Bauckholt.That month, they applied for a marriage license with Snyder in Washington State.It’s not clear how the newly expanded group of Zizians spent their days.Their landlord would later tell reporters he found a medical stretcher inside the house.A Google Map photo shows a box truck parked outside, a satellite receiver perched on the hood.Candice Welch, a neighbor, described seeing these “very weird looking people wearing black all the time,” walking out of the woods together at odd hours.Ziz carried a rifle in her black robes.“On weekends, you would always hear shooting, like somebody was using something as a range,” said Welch.Photos, taken later, show empty boxes of ammunition and containers of Soylent and supplements, a book about the Scandinavian resistance movements during WWII, with detailed descriptions of how they poisoned their occupiers’ water supply, large tanks of argon gas, and a cutting device.There were boxes of surgical masks, a black metal face mask, receipts from chemical-supply companies, and a respirator, along with an order slip for a surgical device called a rongeur, used for cutting small bits of bone.

In January, the group decided to leave the house in North Carolina.Youngblut was tasked with calling a Realtor in rural Vermont about renting an 11-acre property off the grid;they introduced themselves as Connie and said they would be coming with a friend, Sam.The Realtor suggested visiting the property — a fixer-upper listed for nearly $200,000 — in the spring when the roads were more passable.“We don’t want to wait till spring,” Youngblut said.The Realtor agreed to meet them the next morning but canceled when she learned the road wasn’t plowed.Youngblut went anyway with Bauckholt, the runaway quant.They stayed in Vermont over the next week, checking in and out of hotels, wearing masks, body armor, and holstered handguns.Their outfits alarmed one front-desk employee so much that she called the police.Later that day, investigators from the Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations tried to interview Youngblut and Bauckholt;they checked out of the hotel and into another one in the area.They seemed paranoid, anxious — security footage from January 15 shows Bauckholt pacing nervously in a snowy parking lot while Youngblut checks in, dressed in black with a mask pulled tightly over their face.When a car pulls into the lot, Bauckholt ducks into the shadows.

Three thousand miles away, in Vallejo, Snyder was acting erratically, too;people who saw him perched on roadside bollards thought he might be homeless.At one point, a drone flew overhead and he ran up to a worker at an auto-body shop to ask if he was controlling it with his phone.On January 17, he allegedly killed Lind, then took off, driving north.Afterward, an acquaintance from Discord DM-ed Snyder to ask if he had ever heard of the Zizians.“What about ’em,” he responded.He was arrested that evening.Three days later, Bauckholt and Youngblut got in their car and set off southbound on I-91 near Coventry, Vermont, only 20 miles from Canada.Both of their cell phones were wrapped in tinfoil;they wore guns on their hips.According to law-enforcement records, when Border Patrol agents pulled them over, Youngblut stepped wordlessly out of the driver’s seat, raised a Glock, and started firing.When Bauckholt tried to draw her weapon too, agents unleashed a wave of bullets.One of the agents, David Maland, died on the side of the road.So did Bauckholt.Youngblut was taken to a hospital nearby, then to a local station.Later, they were charged with two federal firearms charges and pleaded not guilty.

In the aftermath of the killings, agents fanned out across the country, raiding the North Carolina property and searching for the remaining Zizians on the loose.On February 16, almost four weeks after the Vermont shootout, Ziz, Zajko, and Blank were arrested in Frostburg, Maryland.They had parked two box trucks on a rural piece of land, asking the landowner if they could camp there for a month.Suspicious of their demeanor, he had called the police.Their charges were minor: trespassing on private property and obstruction.Zajko and Ziz also faced obstruction and gun charges.Later, authorities added a federal gun charge for Zajko, claiming she lied about her address when purchasing the gun that Youngblut would use to shoot Maland.Prosecutors are likely working on more charges: I obtained the sealed warrant used to search the North Carolina property, which revealed that agents were investigating Zajko, Youngblut, and Bauckholt’s links to a homicide and their “affiliation with a group known as the ‘Zizian’s.’”

To Ash, this outcome was as mystifying as it was tragic — could it really have been part of the master plan their friends had spent years devising?Snyder sitting on the side of a dusty road, stalking and killing an old man?Youngblut shooting a random cop on a rural highway?Ziz back in jail?Ash wondered what would have happened if they never sharedHarry Potter and the Methods of Rationalitywith their friend — the book that prompted Snyder to reach out in the first place.“Milo was only into HPMOR because I was into HPMOR,” they wrote later in a Medium post.“Could we have caught it then?” But who would have thought to fear it?Harry Potter fan-fiction,Dungeons & Dragons,sci-fi, anime, a love of math and logic;these totems of nerd culture are typically seen as harmless pastimes for intelligent, sensitive children.They represent the cultural inverse of so many parents’ worst nightmare: Andrew Tate and the specter of violent incel-dom.But in this case, the outcome wasn’t so different.A set of lonely, stunted youth, who saw themselves as purehearted vegan crusaders for goodness, roamed the country in box trucks, fighting evil meat-eating vampires with rifles and swords.Their targets — a Border Patrol agent, parents, and a landlord — were avatars of the adult world they so hated, with its insistent demands that they all grow up.

After his arrest, Snyder, who pleaded not guilty to his murder charge, gave a long statement from jail to the San Francisco编年史。“I am not one of Ziz’s friends,” he wrote.Then he addressed Yudkowsky directly.“Eliezer,” Snyder wrote.“You need to have a crisis of faith about whether animals are people.It is critical to saving the world.” He called himself a disciple of Yudkowsky’s, mentioning conversations they’d had on Discord, and described himself as one of the world’s top地牢和龙players — “I think you might find that pretty cool, as a fellow student of Gygax.” He urged Yudkowsky to become vegan.“You need to allocate at least 24 hours, alone, free of distraction,” he wrote.“Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or Clif bars or something.You should watch统治, and imagine, really, imagine, that those are alien children.Alien mothers watching their babies being taken away from them.” He offered to bet all the money he had — $6,000 in the bank and another $200,000 he was due to inherit in a little over two years — that Yudkowsky would not regret taking this advice.

Rationalists recognized several Yudkowskian Easter eggs scattered throughout the statement.Snyder mentioned “Tsuyoku naritai” and “shutting up and doing the impossible,” both quotes from a section of one of Yudkowsky’s books, where he urges readers to be open to changing their minds.A line about doing things for the sake of one’s “children’s children’s children” is a quote fromHPMOR。Snyder seemed to be trying to break through to Yudkowsky with an appeal to his self-importance, a student showing his work to his teacher.But Yudkowsky told the编年史he didn’t read Max’s statement.In late March, Snyder appeared in court wearing a black-and-white jumpsuit, his long hair in pigtails.As he walked to face the judge, he hummed quietly under his breath.